Contest & Drawing Details: February 2010

In order to be eligible to enter a given drawing, a writer will need to have published the required number of stories this month for a particular tier. It is therefore possible for one writer to be entered in all drawings and be eligible to win all prizes if that writer has written enough stories to qualify for each tier! (Please note: Not everyone will win a prize, though. All writers who qualify for a given tier will have their names placed in a hat; names will be drawn randomly for the prizes. Everybody's chances are really good!)

All KFP citizen journalists will be automatically entered in this contest and drawing! The more you write, the more prizes you will be eligible to possibly win.

1. Tier 1 = One Book!
   
   Eligibility: This tier involves the greatest amount of writing. To be eligible for this prize, a writer must publish at least five (5) stories (of any kind) during this month. Writers eligible for this Tier 1 Drawing are also automatically eligible for the Tier 2 and Tier 3 and may also be eligible for Tier 4.
   
   Prize: One (1) book will awarded to one individual, whose name will be drawn randomly from among all those KFP writers who published 5 stories this month. The book being awarded this month to the winner will be The True Patriot by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer. Gov. Howard Dean said about the book, "The True Patriot makes a powerful argument that our heritage as a great nation is a progressive heritage, and it shows what each one of us can do to heal America and regain our position of moral leadership at home and abroad."



2. Tier 2 = Six T-Shirts!
   
   Eligibility: To be eligible for this drawing, writers need to publish at least four (4) stories (of any kind) during this month. Writers eligible for the Tier 2 Drawing are also automatically eligible for the Tier 3 drawing and may also be eligible for Tier 4.
   
   Prizes: A total of six (6) Kansas Free Press t-shirts will awarded to 6 individuals (one shirt per writer), whose names will be drawn randomly from among all those KFP writers who 4 stories of any kind this month. T-shirts come in sizes of M, L, 1X and 2X.



3. Tier 3 = Five Coffee Cups!
   
   Eligibility: To be eligible for this drawing, writers only need to publish a minimum of three (3) (of any kind) during this month. Writers eligible for this Tier 3 Drawing may also be eligible for Tier 4. Just like the tiers above, any type of articles qualify for this tier, too.
   
   Prizes: A total of five (5) Kansas Free Press coffee cups will awarded to 5 individuals (one cup per writer), whose names will be drawn randomly from among all those KFP writers who published a minimum of 3 stories of any kind this month. One side of the cup is shown here and the other side of this cup is shown at the top of this page.
4. Tier 4 = Laminated Press Badges with Neck Lanyards!
   
   Eligibility: To be eligible for this award, writers only need to publish at least two (2) news stories (not opinion pieces or non-news pieces) during this month. Note that for this award, only straight news stories count. Writers can still write opinion or review stories, of course, and the other type stories will help to qualify for other tiers. Writers eligible for this award may also be eligible for the drawings above, depending upon how many total stories they publish this month. Only their news stories will count in Tier 4, though.
   
   Prizes: An unlimited number of Kansas Free Press press badges will awarded; all individuals (one press credential per individual) who publish at least two straight news stories this month will receive a press badge. This tier is the only tier where a drawing will not be held; all those eligible for this tier will receive their press badges! The KFP Press Badges are professional and laminated. These are proper press credentials that designate the bearer as a fully credentialed reporter at the Kansas Free Press. Individual identification and photo appear on one side and the word PRESS on the other side. Each press badge comes with a neck lanyard. Reporters may also detach the lanyard and keep the press badges in their wallet or purse. (Note: News stories are traditional journalistic pieces that do not contain the writer's opinion; to qualify, KFP's editor will have to agree that the two qualifying stories are true news stories.)

The more you write, the more prizes you will be eligible to win!

All prizes and awards will be mailed or delivered to KFP writers, free of charge. To keep up with how many articles you have published in any given month, you can easily go to your own bio page, then, click the link for your archives (or just look your archives up in this list). On the left sidebar of your personal archive page, you will see then easily see current month and the number of articles you've published in that month.

Don't think you have the time to write a lot of stories or articles? That's OK, too. Just remember to do your once-monthly article and you're good.

Questions? Leave comments below and you'll get answers!

Now, let's have some more fun!

"There is no more important struggle for American democracy than ensuring a diverse, independent and free media. Free press is at the heart of that struggle." (Bill Moyers)